Councillor Sally Longford, Portfolio Holder
for Energy and Environment, delivered a presentation outlining
progress within her portfolio against the Council Plan priorities,
highlighting the following:

(a)
16 of Councillor Longford’s Council Plan priorities are
green. One priority is amber;

(b)
Robin Hood Energy was set up in 2015 as a not for profit energy
company to tackle fuel poverty and sell energy at the lowest price
to Nottingham citizens. It now has over 115,000
customers;

(c)local advice events and publicity to
help people switch energy suppliers still continue. There have been
125 ward events to date, and should be 135 by the end of the
Council Plan’s timeframe;

(d)
Nottingham won Britain’s cleanest big city at the end of
2014. This award no longer runs, but the same standards are
maintained through Neighbourhood Action Teams. Clean Champions were
introduced, and there are now around 200 of these;

(e)one target was to double the number of
council houses with solar panels from 3,000 to 6,000. This priority
is amber as it may not be met. This is because the reduced feed-in
tariff by the government has made it less economically viable. The
target to double the number of solar panels on commercial buildings
is expected to be met, with 56 council buildings having solar
panels installed;

(f)there are now 60 charging points for
electric vehicles operational across the city. Rollout across the
D2N2 area will begin soon and by the end of the Council Plan period
there are expected to be 170 charging points across the
city;

(g)
599 deep cleans have been undertaken in areas outside the city
centre against a target of 480. Bulwell, Clifton, Hyson Green and
Sherwood district shopping centres have been cleaned every
quarter;

(h)
over £4.2m of government and energy company grants have been
received since 2015/16 to continue the council’s programme of
insulating homes in areas hardest hit by fuel prices;

(i)
domestic energy consumption has reduced by 6% across Nottingham
private and public housing stock, with the target of 10% expected
to be met by the end of the Council Plan period;

(j)
5,709 smart meters have been installed with Robin Hood Energy
customers and the Enviroenergy Smart
Monitor was launched in 2015;

(k)
the Deregulation Act 2015 specifies that no local energy
performance standards can be set through Local Plans, removing the
council’s ability to require new homes exceed national
building regulations standards;

(l)free bulky waste collection in the city
has been protected from cuts, with 60,000 collections each year.
The service is actively promoted in the
neighbourhoods where fly tipping is high, and the levels of fly
tipping has reduced from the level of three years ago.

The following points were raised during the
discussion which followed:

(m)Clean Champions work with
Neighbourhood Operations Managers to organise events such as street
cleans and litter picks. Some areas have Street Champions who can
also promote these events;

The Chair introduced the item, which was
requested by the Committee in light of the recent high profile
nationally of County Lines. The Committee heard from the Police and
the Crime and Drugs Partnership at the November meeting with
regards to combating youth criminality. This meeting focused on
prevention, diversionary tactics, social support and education.

Helen Blackman, Director of Children’s
Integrated Services, and Shelley Nicholls, Head of Early Help
Services, delivered a presentation highlighting the following:

(a)
the term County Lines is becoming widely recognised to describe
situations where young people may be internally trafficked for the
purpose of criminal exploitation and the use of mobile phone lines
by gangs looking to extend their drug dealing activity into
locations outside their areas;

(b)young people are often tricked into
debt, meaning that they will be in ‘debt bondage’ to
the gang, owing it a debt which may have interest. They are also
given gifts and protection, with use of the word
‘family’ making them feel that they belong;

(c)
key learning is being delivered to raise awareness for
professionals, such as school staff, and the council will be
sharing lessons across partnerships about how children are being
groomed;

(d)children often believe that they have
made an active choice to join in with offending and deny that they
have been exploited. This often leads to them being mistakenly
viewed as suspects rather than victims;

(e)there are many signs and indicators to
be aware of for a child that is being criminally exploited. These
include excess cash, leaving home without explanation, unexplained
injuries, increase in mobile phone use, significant decline in school performance and
changes in emotional wellbeing. Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE)
impacts on both the children themselves and their families or
carers;

(f)a multi-agency response is required,
including parents/carers and the voluntary sector. A screening tool
has been developed to look at recognised indicators of
CCE;

(g)
a ‘hub’ is being piloted to reduce youth violence, as
there is a strong link between young people involved in offending
and violent incidents and those at risk of CCE and County Lines.
The ‘hub’ comprises of Children’s Integrated
Services and Community Protection, and works closely with schools
and police to identify those at risk.

Councillor David Mellen, Portfolio Holder for
Early Intervention and Early Years, explained that CCE has been
around for a long time, but County Lines is a modern version as it
involves new technology such as mobile phones and social media. As
Nottingham is a city with a lot of deprivation its young people are
vulnerable and everybody has a part to play to tackle this growing
issue.

The following points were raised during the
discussion which followed:

(h)although some may be more vulnerable,
all children are at risk of CCE. They may live at home with their
parents and have no previous criminal behaviour;